HC dismissed writ petition as alternative remedy already available

Case Details: Ram Prasad Ganga Prasad v. Assistant Commissioner, State Tax - [2022] 137 taxmann.com 406 (Calcutta)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • MD. Nizamuddin, J.
  • Siddharth Sankar Sengupta, Samiddha Sankar Sengupta and Indranil Biswas for the Petitioner.
  • A. Roy, Ld. GP, S. Mukherjee and N. Chatterjee for the Respondent.
    

Facts of the Case

The petitioner filed writ petition to challenge the order of adjudication passed by the GST Authority. The main ground for challenge of the impugned adjudication order by the petitioner was that though the impugned adjudication order was appealable but the same was without jurisdiction and there was violation of principle of natural justice by not affording opportunity of hearing.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court observed that petitioners had not been able to show any provision of relevant laws mandating authority to give personal hearing.  The section 75(4) of the GST Act simply says about hearing and not about personal hearing. Also, the petitioners had not asked for personal hearing and therefore, the question of violation of principles of natural justice did not arise. The authority, who had issued show-cause notice and passed adjudication order, was having inherent jurisdiction under statute or it was authorised to exercise jurisdiction of adjudication in case of petitioner. The forum for statutory alternative remedy would be already available to petitioner and thus it was held that the writ petition deserved to be dismissed.